ODOM HOLDS KEY TO HIS SUCCESS

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LOS ANGELES So the Lakers came out here Tuesday and, after one game, their fans were ready to kill the Princeton offense and do something even more permanent to Coach Mike Brown.

Then Wednesday it was the Clippers' turn at Staples Center, another team starting a journey that will answer some serious questions about the ability to jell, focus and rise as one.

And they have issues beyond Lamar Odom, too.

Yes, he's back, formerly a Clipper, formerly a Laker and once again the most exasperating riddle in the NBA.

Can Odom, over these 82 games, solve himself?

Playing on a team with only 10 healthy bodies, Odom was the last Clipper off the bench in their 101-92 victory over Memphis.

He entered at the start of the second quarter, immediately made a block, retained possession and charged coast-to-coast, finishing by splashing an errant Spalding into the ocean. Odom's next touch resulted in another comically terrible pass.

He looked heavy, a half-step slow and generally winded, mostly because Odom is all of those things at the moment. He did, however, survive and even manage to help his team's cause, something he hadn't done in a long time.

See, most recently, Odom was a Dallas Maverick. Just not for very long.

Last year, Odom, wholly disinterested and disengaged, went from being the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year to being Dallas' First Man Overboard. Mavs owner Mark Cuban became so disgusted that he told Odom to just go away despite there being a month of season left.

He finished with per-game career lows in points (6.6), rebounds (4.2) and minutes (20.5). Odom was so bad even he acknowledged his Jekyll-and-Hyde act this week, labeling the bad version “Dallas Lamar.”

Odom, initially shaken by trade rumors, never recovered from the heartbreak of being dealt by the Lakers, even though he — just so everyone understands what's involved in handling this guy —
asked the team to trade him.

Given how thoroughly exposed his fragile psyche was last season, it might not have been the wisest decision for Odom and his wife to release a new holiday fragrance with the word
unbreakable in its very name.

“Unbreakable Joy,” that's what he and Khloe Kardashian are calling their latest scent. Khloe last month also announced on her website that she and Odom “poured our hearts into” the perfume's creation.

We'll pause to allow Mavericks fans the chance to fall down laughing at the idea of Odom pouring his heart into anything.

Listen, we like Odom as a person, honest. He seems like a genuinely good dude who wouldn't intentionally harm anyone or anything. If he wanted to hang out, we'd buy the first beers.

But it's his unending habits of being overly sensitive, of not committing himself, of not fulfilling his massive potential that continue to madden. This isn't about the person. This is about the player. And we want our players to be warriors, right?

Then, from the depths of last season, Odom was rescued by the Clippers, who offered him another chance, steady minutes off the bench and — best of all — a job back in his beloved Los Angeles.

So what did Odom do? He showed up for camp with, in the words of Vinny Del Negro, “weight and conditioning issues,” issues that forced the coach to bench Odom during the preseason out of concern for the safety of his knees.

The weight will come off and the conditioning will come back. If Odom can return to being what he was in 2010-11, however, is anything but a certainty.

He finished his return debut Wednesday with two points and six rebounds in 17 minutes.

With him, the Clippers could have one of the most accomplished benches in NBA history. Jamal Crawford, Eric Bledsoe and Odom will one day be joined by the still-injured Grant Hill and Chauncey Billups.

The collection has people wondering how Del Negro will manage to squeeze all that skill into a game that lasts only 48 minutes.

So how much has the atmosphere around this team changed in the past 10 months? The argument now is if the Clippers have too many good players.

At one point, Odom was the future of this franchise. He also was its face. Of course, we were here the afternoon the Clippers had to stage Lamar Odom Bobblehead Day while he was suspended for violating the NBA's drug policy.

Odom no longer is the future of the Clippers, but he definitely has something left to give to their present.

It's up to him, now more than ever. It's up to Lamar Odom alone, Lamar Odom and whoever he convinces himself to be this season.

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